Coraciiformes Taxon Advisory Group -

General
Information:

Description:

A monomorphic
species of bee-eater showing a white forehead, throat, chin, belly,
and a broad superciliary stripe. The crown, lores, gorget, and ear coverts
are black. Primary and secondary wing feathers are buffy in color, while
the coverts and scapulars are blue-green or gold-green, fading to greyish-blue
on the tertials. The underwing coverts are buff in color, while the
undertail coverts are pale blue. The bill is black, the eye is red,
and the legs and feet are light brown.

The juveniles
differ from adult birds primarily by having a pale yellow chin and throat,
a black and olive-green head, and a brownish eye color. On newly fledged
or very young birds the central tail feathers are shorter than the remainder
of the tail feathers.

Range:

The breeding
range of the white-throated bee-eater is a narrow belt of habitat across
Africa and the Red Sea.

Habitat:

During
breeding season, the habitat is sparsely wooded sub-desert steppe, arid
thorn scrub, and sandy dunes chiefly devoid of vegetation. After the
conclusion of breeding season, these bee-eater migrate into the interior
of rainforests hawking for food from the canopy. During the course of
migration they can be found in essentially any habitat and range up
to 3000 meters in elevation, though they primarily remain below 1400
meters and spend the majority of the migration in bushy savanna habitat.

Status:

Diet:

Typical
of most bee-eaters, the chief diet item for the white-throated bee-eater
is flying insects, especially flying ants. The diet will also include
various hymenopterans, beetles, grasshoppers, flies, dragonflies, butterflies,
termites, and lacewings. Infrequently, additional items such as ant-lion
larvae and skinks may be taken as prey items. In addition to these hunted
prey items, the white-throated bee-eater will regularly perch in the
lower canopy of an oil-palm tree waiting for the squirrels to discard
the thin strips of oil-palm skin from the fruit, which are caught from
mid-air and consumed.

Breeding:

Burrows
are dug into bare sandy ground in loose-knit colonies numbering up to
250 pairs. The nest tunnels are packed at a density of no more than
eight nests per hectare. The pairs are primarily monogamous and nearly
all pairs have nest helpers numbering up to five helpers per pair -
much higher numbers than in any other bee-eater species. The nest tunnels
are straight and measure approximately 1-2 meters in length, declining
at an angle of 20-24% resulting in an egg chamber located 40-60cm below
the level of the entrance to the tunnel.

Once completed,
the nest structure will hold a clutch of 2-5 eggs measuring approximately 22mm by 19mm.These eggs
will be incubated for 19 to 21 days prior to the hatching. During their growth,
the chicks are fed by both parents, and by all of the nest helpers.
After approximatley 32 days have elapsed, the bee-eaters will fledge from the tunnel.